F 
Is^ THE FUTURE OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN 



BY 

JAMES O'NEILL 

Judge of Seventeenth Judicial Circuit 



[From Proceedings of The State Historical Society of Wisconsin. 1898] 



MADISON 

State Historical Society of Wisconsin 

1899 




Glass. 



F<s^L 



Book f<9 



THE FUTURE OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN 



^'.* 



BY 

JAMES O'NEILL 
Judge of Seventeenth Judicial Circuit 



[From Proceedings of The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1898] 



MADISON 

State Historical Society of Wisconsin 
1899 



40098 

THE FUTURH OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.' 



BY JAMES O NEILL. 

When, after a residence of a year in Wisconsin a quarter of 
a century ago, I revisited my old home in New York, I met a 
lawyer in whose office I had been a student. After the usual 
greetings the conversation ran into a discussion of the relative 
merits and advantages of the East and West. T was enthusias- 
tic in praise of the rapidly developing new stales of the INIissis- 
sippi Valley, and especially of the State which I had selected 
for my future home. My friend grew impatient, and began to 
denounce the West and Western business and society. I re- 
meml)er, especially, his description of a Western railroad. He 
said we threw up over the prairies a turnpike, la'd ties eight 
or ten feet apart, spiked rails across them, and called it a rail- 
road. The city of Chicago was of mushroom growth, and in 
commerce and finance would always play a part unimportant 
compared with the great cities of the East. I parted Irom my 
friend smarting, somewhat, from the lash of his sarcasm. 

A quarter of a century has elapsed. Chicago has grown to be 
a giant, and is fast approaching the importance of the metropo- 
lis of the great Empire State. The deposits in one of its banks 
during the past year exceeded that of any bank in the country. 
The Mississippi States, of which it is the center, have grown to 
be the richest and most important empire on the face of the 
globe. In capacity to produce all that is useful and staple for 
man's support and comfort, this Middle West is incomparably 
superior to the Atlantic States, including New York herself. 
We have lived to see the balance of political power pass 
from the East to the Mississippi Valley. I happened to bo in 

' Address before the State Historical Convention at Madison, February 
23, 1899. The author is judge of the IJth judicial circuit.— Ed. 



FUTURE OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN. 203 

the house of representatives when the test vote was taken on 
the location of the World's Fair. When the Western metropo- 
lis was chosen, it was a revelation to the East which startled 
them. I could turn the tables on my friend today, and by 
many facts and figures demonstrate the superiority in various 
directions of the new country, compared with the states where 
so many of us were born. 

At the semi-centennial celebration last summer, in this city, 
I met a gentleman with whom I had, many years ago, a slight 
acquaintance. I approached him and found, as I expected, that 
it was necessary to give my name and to suggest my former 
connection with an Eastern institution w^ith which both had 
had some relation. He recalled me at once, and then looking 
into my face with an air and voice of compassion, said : " Oh, 
you live somewhere up in northern Wisconsin, do you not? " 
There was an inflection on the words " somewhere " and 
"northern Wisconsin " which, it seemed to me, indicated that 
he pitied me for having gone to the wilderness, among the bar- 
barians. 

Well, I meet just such men in Chicago, and not infrequently in 
the capital and metropolis of our own State. I am ready to in- 
foi-m such people that we in the north need no pity; that we 
are proud of the whole State; and that we believe the northern 
half of it is steadily advancing to a position in which, in pro- 
duction of the fruits of the earth, of the staples necessary to the 
sustenance and comfort of man, in the products of mines and 
forests, in commerce, and in the possession of a cultivated and 
enlightened citizenship, it will not suffer by comparison with 
the southern portion. So I will premise by the statement that 
I am enthusiastic over the development of northern Wisconsin, 
and exceedingly hopeful of its future. 

The line which s.^parates what may be called northern and 
southern Wisconsin is not definite. It seems fair to divide the 
seventy counties of the State equally, and this can be done by 
taking Brown, Shawano, Marathon, Portao^e, Wood, Clark, 
Trempealeau, and all the counties north of these, for the north- 
ern half. These thirty-five counties comprise 18,516,583 acres 
as against 13,500,783 acres in the southern portion. 



204 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

The population in this northern territory in 1855 was 24,236; 
in 1880 it had increased to 144,000; in 1895 it was 609,560. 
Several counties were almost uninhabited twenty years ago. 
The population of Douglas county in 1880 was only 655; in 1895 
it was 30,000, and is now much larger. That of Ashland was 
then 1,559; now 17,000. Each of these counties now contains 
a large city, important as centers of commerce and promising 
much in the future. 

At the close of the War of Secession, Eau Claire county had 
•a population of 5,000; in 1895 it was 33,000, and it now con- 
tains a city which is the great railroad and commercial center 
of the northwestern part of the State. 

Lincoln county started in 1880 with a population of 2,000, 
and has increased eight fold. Its county seat, Merrill, is a 
flourishing manufacturing town. 

Marinette has trebled its population in twenty years; its 
county seat, in connection with its sister across the river in 
Michigan, enjoys the distinction of being the greatest lumbering 
manufacturing district in the world. Where was a wilderness 
only twenty years ago, will now be found a city of about 20,000; 
a hotel costing $100,000; an elegant opera house; and modern 
luxuries. 

The assessed valuation of the land in the northern portion, as 
fixed by the State Board last year, was $62,736,178 as against 
$192,649,393 for the southern half. Thus it will be seen that 
the south is rated as worth over three times as much as the 
north. The total value of all property in the State is fixed at 
$600,000,000, of which the southern section is assigned 
$470,000,000, and the northern $130,000,000 — which again is 
a ratio of over three to one. 

I just pause to prophesy this as to the future: that every 
census hereafter will see a noticeable approach in the north to 
the values in the south, and that within the lives of some now 
living, it is likely the wealth of the first will exceed that of the 
latter. 

The first settlers of northern Wisconsin were largely from 
New England, New York, and Canada. Accessions from these 
sources have been pouring in steadily for the past twenty-five 



FUTURE OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN. 205 

years; and in addition there has been enrichment of German 
and Scandinavian blood. This blending has produced a thrifty, 
industrious, and progressive people, perfectly fitted to the work 
of clearing the forests and opening hill and valley into beautiful 
farms. 

The Germans, especially, have contributed to the agricultural 
prosperity of Wisconsin. . I chanced to meet Ex-Governor Hoard 
a short time ago, on his return from a lecturing tour among the 
farmers of central and northern New York. He described the 
remarkable depreciation in the value of farm lands in that State. 
Farms formerly worth $15,000 to $20,000 are now selling for 
$5,000 to $8,000. The price has dropped from $70 to $80 per 
acre down to $20 to $40. Mr. Hoard's explanation is this: 
Farmer boys do not stay on the farms. They seek work on the 
railroads and in the cities, and many go West. So the number 
of thrifty farmers is constantly diminishing. 
• My own observations in this State indicate that here the con- 
ditions are precisely the contrary. When the oldest son of a 
German farmer marries, the father buys him a farm. By econ- 
omy and forethought, provision has been made for this event. 
Then the remainder of the family begin to save to buy a place 
for the next boy. Then the next is provided for, and so the 
family is planted about the parents; and all go steadily and 
merrily on, in a prosperous career. The farms become beautiful 
and fruitful, and values steadily advance. As times go on, 
these farmers have bank accounts, and their sons and daughters 
begin to fill the high schools and the University, returning gen- 
erally to apply their learning in agricultural pursuits. I have 
observed this condition in my own county. In that town where 
farms are highest in price, the population is most largely Ger- 
man. So there has been no such depression in farm land here, 
as in New York. In northern Wisconsin there has been a re- 
markable advance within two or three years. 

EDUCATION. 

These pioneers of the north have brought with them the com- 
mon school and all its blessings. Go where you will in the for- 
ests of this State, and as soon as a few families have hewed out 



206 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

rude homes, a good school house is erected at a section corner. 
It is refreshing to go into new settlements, and in a drive 
through the woods to come suddenly upon a prettj^, new school 
house, with all modern conveniences, and to meet the rosy chil- 
dren and blooming school mistress. 

There was expended in the last school year, in the thirty-five 
counties which I have mentioned, for school purposes, $1,204,000. 

The sons and daughters of these people are filling the normal 
schools, academies, and the State University. So although 
much of the country is new, this people will be accompanied by 
all the light and culture exhibited in the older communities. 
Ko rioters or anarchists are bred here; all are true and patri- 
otic — such material as will forever be the bulwark of a great 
and expanding nation. 

FORESTS. 

The forests of northern Wisconsin have been, and are still, 
rich in valuable timber. The late report of the forestry comx- 
missioner indicates that in the twenty-five years from 1873 to 
1898, there has been cut and manufactured in twenty -seven of 
the noi'thern counties sixty-six billion feet of pine, and that 
there is left only fifteen billion. It is estimated also that there 
is left sixteen billion feet of hardwood, being oak, bass wood, 
birch, elm, ash and maple. It is said in this report, " The im- 
portance of the forest to the State of Wisconsin as a factor of 
wealth, is very great." The statement that "The wood indus- 
tries have built every mile of railway and wagon roads, every 
church and school house, and nearly every town, and thai in 
addition they have enabled the clearing of half the improved 
land of North Wisconsin " is by no means extravagant. 

The lumber industry, especially in hardwood, will continue 
for a long period, probably fifty years, and will be a constant 
source of profit. 

AGRICULTURE. 

The writer hereof was born and reared on a farm; and 
during the quarter of a century he has lived in this State, he 
has almost constantly owned and conducted a small stock farm, 



FUTURE OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN. 20/ 

which has served as a diversion from the anxiety of professional 
•duty. How delightful to turn from the strife of the court room 
to the sight of growing grains, green pastures, and flocks and 
herds! A gentleman who has held high oflficial position in this 
State, and who is now occupying a responsible position in a 
great institution, with a salary of ten thousand a year, told me 
he would enjoy leaving the "prison " — a term used to describe 
his elegant office where he speuds his business hours — and go 
•out to live on a farm, where he could be close to nature and 
her delights. I imagine that when that same man was a boy, 
he dreamed he would be supremely happy if he could ever reach 
such a position of honor and confidence as the one he now holds. 

One of the justices of our supreme court has for years owned 
and managed a large farm. It brings him joy and health, and 
assists in keeping him in sympathy and touch with the masses 
of the people. He is exalted in my mind as a man and citizen, 
•on account of his pastoral tastes.^ 

Three thousand years ago a sacred writer said: "Thou shalt 
keep the commandments of the Lord thy G-od, to walk in his 
ways and to fear him, for the Lord thy God bringeth thee into 
a good land; a land of brooks and of water, of fountains, and 
depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat 
and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates; a land of 
oil, olive and honey; a land wherein thou shalt eat bread with- 
out scarceness; thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose 
stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayst dig brass. " 
Truly, northern Wisconsin is a land of " brooks and of water, of 
fountains, and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; of 
wheat and barley and honey: wherein thou shalt eat bread 
without scarceness, and whose stones are iron. " 

Now that the lumber interest is declining, the true and sub- 
stantial basis of the prosperity of this section of the State is 
coming to be observed. The southern half of this section is already 
well advanced, and the coming twenty-five years will be marked 
by surprising agricultural development. Lands which have 
been covered with maple, oak, basswood and elm, are generally 

^ The late Justice S. U. Pinney, who happened at that time to be in the 
audience. — Ed. 



208 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

a clay loam and very fertile; and a large portion of this section is- 
of this character. Of course there are swamps and sandy belts, 
but when the swamps are drained they are found to be fertile^ 
and especially adapted to raising hay. The sandy belts are 
suited to producing root crops, and especially potatoes. 

In pasturage, and capacity to produce hay, it is believed 
northern Wisconsin excels every other portion of the United 
States. And so it is fast becoming a great producer of cattle, 
sheep, and horses, and butter and cheese. It used to be con- 
sidered that cattle had to be fed so many months in the year 
that we could not compete with southern Wisconsin and Illinois. 
But it is now demonstrated that in a large portion of the- 
section under consideration, any difference in climate is 
fully compensated by richness and persistency of pasturage, 
and larger crops of hay. When in the summer and fall, in 
Rock, Green, and Walworth counties, the pastures are brown 
and bare, those in Clark, Marathon, Dunn, and Price are fresh 
and green. 

Osseo and Mondovi are two small villages in Trempealeau 
and Buffalo counties respectively. The former shipped last year 
700 cars of agricultural products, and the latter over 900 — 
mostly cattle, sheep, and hogs. There was distributed among 
the farmers in these localities, from this source alone, nearly a 
million dollars. In this connection. Senator Whelan, of Mon- 
dovi, a business man and banker, having means of information,, 
states that w^ithin the past three years over $50,000 of mort- 
gages oh farms in this vicinity has been paid off. In a few years- 
these farmers will be lenders instead of borrowers. 

A paragraph in a Menomonie paper states that one buyer in 
that city shipped $54,000 worth of hogs last year to a packing 
house in Eau Claire. 

When I came to Wisconsin in 1873, the principal business in 
Clark county was lumbering Large quantities of supplies 
were shipped in, but no products of the farm were shipped out. 
Now, all is changed. With the decline of lumbering has come 
a development of agriculture and dairying, which insures a. 
more permanent and abundant prosperity. According to the 
census of 1895, Clark county contained farm lands valued at 



FUTURE OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN. . 209 

$3,966,000. There were cattle valued at $240,000; sheep valued 
■at $35,000; horses valued at $120,000; hay valued at $300,- 
000; oats valued at $120,000; potatoes worth $50,000; butter 
worth $128,000; and milch cows worth $168,000. The last four 
years have greatly increased these amounts. One Saturday last 
fall, I happened to be at the depot at my home, and saw a 
-shipment of thirteen cars of stock. I wa5 told that there was 
distributed that day to the farmers for this, upwards of $10,000. 
A steady stream of money is low coming to our farmers for 
butter, cheese, hogs, cattle, and sheep; the financial condition 
of the producers is vastl}^ better than it ever was in the palmy 
■days of lumbering. I may be pardoned for sayinof that I believe 
Clark is the gem of the northern counties, and within the 
next quarter century will be one of the richest counties in the 
State. 

Let us turn to a county farther north. I suppose that many 
people believe that Price county is only a lumbering region, 
not fitted for agriculture. My friend, M. A. Thayer, under 
date February 15th of this year, writes me of the products and 
prospects of the country about Phijlips: 

The products of Price county are all grains, peas, clovers and grasses 
•especially fine, vegetables that cannot be excelled, and small fruits to per- 
fection, with winter protection. Early corn generally matures, late corn 
uncertain; sheep, the dairy and their support are the natural products of 
this section. 

Answering yours of yesterday, further would say, we are growing some 
apples, plums and cherries, but as in most of Wisconsin, they are still in 
an experimental state, and must be limited to half a dozen varieties. In 
small fruits such as can be protected in winter, I have been completely 
surprised at the quality and quantity that can be produced here. I have 
grown small fruits for many years in southern parts of the State, but have 
never equalled Price county for vigor of plant, quality and perfection of 
fruit, and large yields. I attribute this to abundance of snow in the win- 
ter to protect against severe weather, late springs preventing early matu- 
rity of fruit buds, and quick warm soil giving rapid growth of berry. Our 
crop is usually a week or ten days later than southern Wisconsin and 
Michigan, thus giving us better market and ready sales. I have twenty 
acres in strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, currants and gooseberries. 
The special advantages of this section will be found in the natural grasses 
and clover producing qualities of the soil insuring us, beyond a doubt, a 
first class dairy country. 



2IO WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

Two hundred and fifty new families found homes in Price county last 
year, and prospects now'are that more than double the number will locate- 
here during the year 1899. 

Good cheap lands on long time and easy payments is sure to settle. and 
improve this country rapidly. 

Mr. Thayer's statements are worthy of credit, for he is demon- 
stratinor the truth of his theories. 

o 

The limit of my paper is reached, and I must omit many sub- 
jects worthy of consideration. The commerce of the lake ports,, 
the manufacturing industries and the building of thrifty cities 
and villages, deserve notice, but must be passed. Northern 
Wisconsin is great and prosperous, but her period of most sub- 
stantial development is only now in sight. The next quarter 
century will bring her well up in productive wealth with the 
southern half of the State, resulting in a commonwealth of pa- 
triotic, progressive, and intelligeat citizenship, rich in agricul- 
ture, manufactures, and commerce, and to which, as one of the 
great family of States, we may point with justifiable pride. 



M yrm 



